Fame not VanVleeting at alma mater
Raptors guard has jersey retired by high school, as much for character as career
It has been a wonderful and lifechanging year for Fred VanVleet.
The Toronto Raptors point guard has made himself into a valuable member of a very good team through a combination of his strength of will and stellar basketball abilities. He has also become a first-time father, which ultimately may be the most important thing he has done.
And he has one more accomplishment to celebrate in the winding journey from Rockford, Ill., to the NBA. VanVleet’s high school number, 23, was permanently retired at Auburn High School in Rockford over the weekend. It will hang in the school’s Dolph Stanley Gymnasium as a testament to the second-year NBAer.
“To be 23 (years old) now and get that type recognition, obviously that’s great,” VanVleet said Thursday as the Raptors returned from a long all-star break.
He wasn’t able to attend the ceremony — his daughter is not even a month old — but he saw photographs and video and appreciates the honour.
“You don’t really have time to stop and think about it,” he said of his whirlwind year. “I count my blessings as often as possible, appreciate everything that I’ve been able to do.
“That’s what you work hard for. (The hard work is) something I value, it’s one of my core values. And I just like to think when you do that, and you do things the right way, life tends to pay you back.”
Bryan Ott, VanVleet’s high school coach, said there any number of reasons for current Auburn students and athletes to try to emulate one of the city’s most famous sons.
“Obviously, everybody looks up to him and would like to do the things he’s done. So they get to watch him on TV and so people want to emulate that,” Ott said at the ceremony to honour VanVleet.
“What I tell people they should emulate is his character. He was a great student. He was loved by all his teachers. He’s respectful to everybody. His work ethic, you know . . . those are the things people miss.”
Those are the same characteristics that have allowed him to blossom this season, as much as his shooting, ball-handling and gritty defence. VanVleet has gone from being a marginal player in his rookie season, when he split time with the Raptors and Raptors 905, to a vital part of Toronto’s second unit, averaging 19 minutes a night.
He will have an integral role in what the Raptors do in the final 25-game portion of the NBA season that starts Friday at home against the Milwaukee Bucks.
Raptors coach Dwane Casey has been hammering home the message that this stretch should prepare the team for the post-season. He has a few veterans who know the sting of limping into the playoffs and being eliminated early, and he will preach the importance of not being satisfied and not letting that happen.
“It starts with Kyle (Lowry) and DeMar (DeRozan),” Casey said. “They’ve seen success and they’ve seen failure and that should be a great reminder for everybody — fans, the media, whoever’s going to listen. That’s our job to get them to understand that that’s the way this world works. We can all feel good and happy and all that but, sooner or later, somebody’s trying to . . . take your position, take your spot at the top if you let them.
“The only way (they) can do that is if you get comfortable. That’s a challenge for young players as much as the older players. The older players understand, they’ve seen it and should know there’s no place in the NBA for comfortable.”
At least one of Casey’s young players knows not to rest on laurels, no matter how good they make you feel.
“There’s so much more that I want to do, I’m constantly just looking forward,” VanVleet said.